A friend and I attended an author event last night. We were there to see Kelley Armstrong as fans of the Otherworld series for adults. But the event, the Dark Days Tour sponsored in St. Louis by Left Bank Books, was centered around YA books so Kelley was talking about her new high fantasy novel for teens, Sea of Shadows.

The HarperCollins publicist who moderated the panel is standing. The authors are Danielle Paige with her first book, Dorothy Must Die; Kelley Armstrong with Sea of Shadows, Kiera Cass with The One, and Kimberly Derting with The Taking.

The other three authors are all new to me, but I’m a fan now! After hearing about their books, I want to read them all and their backlists, too.

The youngest members in the audience were there for Kiera Cass who has written a series about princesses, beginning with The Selection that is dark enough to be included in the Dark Days Tour. Two young women behind us, veterinary students at the University of Missouri, drove all the way from Columbia to see her. They reported that the books are really cute. A large number of tweens in the audience apparently agreed. There were very few men in the audience — most were escorting their daughters (which was also really cute) to this event to meet Kiera Cass.

My favorite question of the night was from one of those young audience members and she asked, “What are your favorite books?” My favorite answer was from Danielle Paige who said Dickens, Austen (especially Persuasion), and…Marissa Meyer. Am I weird that her answer made me want to read her book? Dorothy Must Die is a dark twist on Oz, where Dorothy has seized power, letting it go to her head, and a new girl from Kansas needs to make things right again.

Our line to get our books signed by Kelley Armstrong ground to a halt when someone brought, apparently, every book that Kelley ever wrote to be signed. I took advantage of the wait to get a photo of the signing table.

Signing table of the Dark Days Tour. Kelley Armstrong is in the foreground. Danielle Paige is having her photo taken with a fan. Kimberly Derting and Kiera Cass are at the far end of the table.

Author events are more common than they used to be in St. Louis, but I don’t attend very many. Perhaps, I should. This was a fun way to interact with readers and writers. Do you go to author events?

Saturday Snapshots are hosted each week by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. Check out her post this weekend for lots of great photos around the web.

Comments

I’ve been to many author events, though not recently. When I lived in Miami, I’d attend the Miami International Book Fair every year. Sponsored by Miami-Dade College, anyone could attend lectures by authors and stay for book signings afterwards. I heard talks by Pat Conroy, Alexander McCall Smith, Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen, and a host of other wonderful authors. This amazing week-long event is what I miss most about South Florida.

We don’t have many author events in our city so it’s wonderful to read about this one you went to. What a rewarding night. The Q & A must have been a most interesting experience. Thanks for sharing this.

Author events are so much fun, especially this type of group panel. I’ll be interested in hearing what you think of Dorothy Must Die. I tried to read it, but gave up about 70 pages in — that writing was atrocious and the characterization was shallow. Still, I know lots of people have loved it, so I may be missing something!

“Do you go to author events?” Yes! Every chance I get. I heard about one that was about three hours away, talked my friend into going with me (it wasn’t hard), and off we went. We had a very enjoyable day and got to meet Masha Hamilton, who wrote “The Camel Bookmobile” and other novels.

I love going to author events, we have a few in my town, probably more than you’d expect for a small town- I try to get to as many as I can- they’re always interesting. I like writers festivals too- I’m excited about going to the Sydney Writers Festival for the first time this month. My plan is to get to every writers festival in Australia over time.

Author events are fun, and this looks like a great panel. I got a chuckle at your comment about there being few men there- I guess we’re probably not the target audience for these books but I bet the daughters had fun 🙂 And it’s always funny when someone brings EVERYTHING in to be signed- bet the author just loves that. 🙂